Mishka Clothing is a street wear brand that was started in Brooklyn New York City. Inspired by subcultures of the past and present, from the 80s underground punk and skate scenes to the underground music communities of the early millennium, the two creators Mikhail Bortnik and Gregory Rivera have ensured that Mishka Clothing have offered designs that are hip and relevant since the company’s inception in 2003.

In Russian, Mishka literally translates to ‘Bear Cub’ and so much of the Mishka Clothing range features designs revolving around bears, from aggressive bear face logos to disturbed, graffiti teddy graphics. Mishka Clothing founders were most inspired by the bear, an animal that is intelligent and gentle yet ready to hold its own and fight if angered.

Mikhail had begun designing a bear motif in around 2000 after graduating from college, and after he became uninspired with his 9-5 job and life, he then played around with some t-shirt designs.

The start-up of Mishka Clothing was self-funded by the duo on credit cards and from working on random tv shows. They wanted the growth of their business to be organic and real and say they would rather have people find them and become fans naturally than try and convince people to buy with them.

In addition to this philosophy, Mishka like to nurture young graphic talents, embracing emerging artists and working closely with the young designers on their graphic concepts."